If there was nothing to hide, they would have released the secretary’s return as well. Her State income tax deduction alone would have been enough to itemize (to beat the $5,800 standard deduction). Throw in some charitable gifts, possibly a mortgage, ad valorem, and real estate taxes, and her effective rate quickly fizzles to the national average of 8% to 13%.
That’s my point — the left includes all those local taxes and Payroll Taxes when they talk about the “effective tax rate” the secretaries of the world pay. Not as deductions that made her Federal Income Tax rate lower, but as part of the total taxes they paid.
They disingenously only show the Federal Income Tax return for high earners, but if pressed for an explanation to questions like yours, they will admit they included all the other taxes she paid to inflate her number even though it has nothing to do with the Federal Income Tax rate the Buffet Rule would affect.